I'm not a big fan of working through racial issues in music videos. I think that the topic becomes the video itself and not the message contained in the video content. Nonetheless, both these videos were impressive.
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I had my own epiphany about race a long time ago. I read a book called The Anatomy Of Racial Inequality by Glenn Loury. I had always had my own ideas about race relations ( I grew up age 10-17 in a whirl of changing neighborhoods and occasional race based gang fights) and eventually I was on a dedicated race relations online forum for 7 years. EVERY seed on the forum was about race or about how race tinged the news stories of the day. The forum broke up when the clique of blacks who ran it got tired of listening to the whites on the forum belittle the black experience so the blacks took their ball and went home, so to speak.
In his book Glenn Loury gets to the heart of why blacks have not assimilated to the successful degree that other ostracized ethnic groups (Irish, Italian, Jewish, ) have in American history. Blacks are ostracized by their appearance . (The same would apply to American Indians and some hispanics also.) There is the concept of "the other" , and with black people they generally wear their "otherness" outwardly as well as inwardly. There have been studies where people are simply shown pictures of different races and they are associated with negative feelings when they see the photos of blacks. The appearance in itself carries a negative connotation for many. Some whites can NEVER overcome this identification of blacks as being "the other".
So this is elemental racism, and over the past 150 years I believe it has broken the spirit of SOME black people, who pass that broken spirit to their children grandchildren etc. and what then happens is the self-fulfilling prophecy where people who have been long told they are nothing end up being nothing. This would be the portion of the black underclass that we call dysfunctional. The criminals, the lazy, the welfare families, there is an element where is truth to the conservative claim. I think it is a small portion, but it is not a myth. These are the people who cannot overcome the stigma, the racial stigma and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
How can they when they are "the other". I think the answer to "black" problems has to be found BOTH by diminishing white racism and by requiring the underclass black community to confront and overcome their "dysfunctions" . One with the other will not be sufficient. We have to find a way for blacks, and American Indians, hispanics and other people of color to not be seen as "the other" anymore, but as "us".
And of course according to demographics sometime in the next 25 -35 years whites will become a minority group in the U.S. whether anyone likes it or not.
My personal experience of having to come to grips with my own preconceptions and racism goes way back; I literally feel that if there were an actual miracle that could ever do for us what we need, it would be to take us outta our own skin, and plop us into someone else's skin, even for just one single day.
I literally feel that if there were an actual miracle that could ever do for us what we need, it would be to take us outta our own skin, and plop us into someone else's skin, even for just one single day.
I got a lot more out of the second video than the first. I liked the central theme of not being a racist. I honestly think that most people don't think of themselves as racists. I don't really think they think about living in the other person's shoes either. If someone fits a stereotype of what has been in the back of their mind, they don't think.. hey that's racist of me.. just confirmation bias at worse, a bad joke at best.
But I think that this is true of the human race. One of the most interesting films I have ever seen about this, was Gran Tornio. You saw how different races interacted with each other and their stereotypes, both toxic and not.. and how just getting to know one another in a real way, changed that.
I was a member of a group on the old NV that was named, ''Race and Ethnicity'', many blacks, a few Indians. Some of the comments by non minority were beyond the pale. I wish that we had a group like that on NT...
No RBR's or anything like that, just remember to talk about the subject not one another. Thanks.
:~)
I'm not a big fan of working through racial issues in music videos. I think that the topic becomes the video itself and not the message contained in the video content. Nonetheless, both these videos were impressive.
-
I had my own epiphany about race a long time ago. I read a book called The Anatomy Of Racial Inequality by Glenn Loury. I had always had my own ideas about race relations ( I grew up age 10-17 in a whirl of changing neighborhoods and occasional race based gang fights) and eventually I was on a dedicated race relations online forum for 7 years. EVERY seed on the forum was about race or about how race tinged the news stories of the day. The forum broke up when the clique of blacks who ran it got tired of listening to the whites on the forum belittle the black experience so the blacks took their ball and went home, so to speak.
In his book Glenn Loury gets to the heart of why blacks have not assimilated to the successful degree that other ostracized ethnic groups (Irish, Italian, Jewish, ) have in American history. Blacks are ostracized by their appearance . (The same would apply to American Indians and some hispanics also.) There is the concept of "the other" , and with black people they generally wear their "otherness" outwardly as well as inwardly. There have been studies where people are simply shown pictures of different races and they are associated with negative feelings when they see the photos of blacks. The appearance in itself carries a negative connotation for many. Some whites can NEVER overcome this identification of blacks as being "the other".
So this is elemental racism, and over the past 150 years I believe it has broken the spirit of SOME black people, who pass that broken spirit to their children grandchildren etc. and what then happens is the self-fulfilling prophecy where people who have been long told they are nothing end up being nothing. This would be the portion of the black underclass that we call dysfunctional. The criminals, the lazy, the welfare families, there is an element where is truth to the conservative claim. I think it is a small portion, but it is not a myth. These are the people who cannot overcome the stigma, the racial stigma and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
How can they when they are "the other". I think the answer to "black" problems has to be found BOTH by diminishing white racism and by requiring the underclass black community to confront and overcome their "dysfunctions" . One with the other will not be sufficient. We have to find a way for blacks, and American Indians, hispanics and other people of color to not be seen as "the other" anymore, but as "us".
And of course according to demographics sometime in the next 25 -35 years whites will become a minority group in the U.S. whether anyone likes it or not.
Great comment John, thanks Bud.
My personal experience of having to come to grips with my own preconceptions and racism goes way back; I literally feel that if there were an actual miracle that could ever do for us what we need, it would be to take us outta our own skin, and plop us into someone else's skin, even for just one single day.
That would give many a real eye opening moment.
Excellent comment JR.
I got a lot more out of the second video than the first. I liked the central theme of not being a racist. I honestly think that most people don't think of themselves as racists. I don't really think they think about living in the other person's shoes either. If someone fits a stereotype of what has been in the back of their mind, they don't think.. hey that's racist of me.. just confirmation bias at worse, a bad joke at best.
But I think that this is true of the human race. One of the most interesting films I have ever seen about this, was Gran Tornio. You saw how different races interacted with each other and their stereotypes, both toxic and not.. and how just getting to know one another in a real way, changed that.
I was a member of a group on the old NV that was named, ''Race and Ethnicity'', many blacks, a few Indians. Some of the comments by non minority were beyond the pale. I wish that we had a group like that on NT...